HDN: Christmas Chaos
by Symantra
Summary: Blanc never wanted a snowfield demon, a faux toy maker, a troubled friend, and two mischievous twins for Christmas. But that's what she got.


A fierce and frigid bellow of mid-winter wind rushed into Lowee's guild hub, bringing with it a tiny snowstorm of particles that scattered about like flying spittle from a beastly maw but eventually slowed and settled to the ground, where they began to melt. Some unlucky patrons who had decided to stand near the door were blasted with cold air—a blunt reminder that Lowee and its year-round snow became even colder still in the winter—and they sent furtive glares at the girl who had just entered. The scowls dropped from their faces as they realized who they were addressing, however.

Quickly stepping further into the building so that the automatic doors would slide closed behind her, Blanc glanced at the now meek group brushing snow off their jackets. In their direction, she gave a penitent nod and a word of apology, though they were quick to reassure her that it was nothing. Her presence at the hub being nothing too out of the ordinary, the other adventurers lost interest in her quickly, until it was as if she were just another person coming and going.

Blanc readjusted her atypical Santa hat and made a beeline for one of the two holographic bulletin boards on the ground floor. A few others were already gathered around it, some of them only to enjoy the warmth of the brazier burning in the center, not paying real attention to the slowly spinning column of requests and public service announcements. This was one of Lowee's proud innovations; Some Lastation technology, modified by Planeptune's R&D team, allowed for the vertical projection of holographic imagery. With a spell to make a firepit that burned perpetually and smokelessly, her magi-technicians had created the perfect winter comfort: a way to warm up and catch up while standing up.

Though the guild center looked the same from the outside all year round, the interior had undergone a seasonal renovation. The walls were fitted with red cedar logs, the floor with laminated planks of the same type, and the ceiling was supported by a crisscross of wooden beams. Boughs of themed plants, holly twigs and evergreen wreaths, hung on the walls. Blanc felt right at home in her festive attire, even if it was just a hat.

For a short while, she lost herself standing in front of the hypnotizing array of rotating news pages and electronic flyers. The holidays were finally here, and everyone seemed to laugh more and more loudly for it. But Blanc had been waiting with an unusually feverish excitement this year.

"I wonder if she'll invite me again..." Speaking to herself in a murmur, she idly reached out and stopped a quest notice that had caught her attention by the fourth go around. But her interest in the quest was less than real; what preoccupied her more was recollection of the Secret Santa gift exchange which Neptune had dragged her into a year before. On all her visits to the Planeptune Basilicom after that event, frequent as they were nowadays, she had seen her gift to Neptune on the girl's bedside table; the snow globe appeared to be a now permanent decoration, regardless of season.

Maybe this year, she would invite Neptune to Lowee. A nice, casual winter date—but not really a _date_ date, she corrected herself—instead of a full-fledged party. That was a good idea.

Looking back at the screen, Blanc skimmed the description of the quest she had picked out. _Someone had fun putting their request together,_ she noted as she read the title. ' _Even During Christmas Time, FOE'... Sightings of large goat-like demon, things disappearing, generous reward for the savior of Noel…_

With a careless shrug, she decided to take it. The window closed with a brief 'Quest Accepted!' message, and a map appeared on the screen marked with several red dots indicating where sightings had taken place as well an ominous horned skull over the supposed location of the beast's lair.

Pulling her hat down around her ears, Blanc left the comfort of the guild center and walked through the town, fallen snow rising up around her ankles. Normally, going outside in clothes like these would be insane; bare legs and open shoes were a surefire way to get frostbite, but the cold had never bothered her anyway. She was practically immune to it, though apparently the other CPUs were less unaffected. If any of them tried to come to Lowee in their regular attire, they would not have a very enjoyable experience. Blanc enjoyed being special this way; Lowee and its colder climes kept frequent visitors to a minimum, which was exactly how she liked it.

Blanc left town through the main gate and transformed, feeling the weight of gravity leave her body like cut chains. She would have done so earlier if not for the Christmas lights strung over all the streets as if someone were weaving a net to catch the stars as they fell. As she took to the air, her hand went up to keep her hat from flying away—it had not been saved with her human form for some reason, so she was kind of stuck wearing it now.

The quest was located in the mountains, specifically in a place called the Phendroid Drifts. A bizarre place of inhospitable stone ruins and pillars of snow-covered rock, it served as a hideout for plenty of cold, reclusive creatures. The quest boss, Krampus, was apparently no different from the rest of them.

This high up, the wind blew incessantly in her ears, muffling every other sound. But her eyes worked fine; she could see for miles. Right as the first of many ruins came into sight, Blanc took a moment to admire the smooth hills of snow that stretched endlessly in every direction, silvery blue and colored by sunlight in some places. A small grove of winterberry bushes off to her left added a splash of green to the picture. From a distance, the glacial landscape was much easier to appreciate than if one had to trek across it on foot.

Then something caught her eye, near the grove. There was a huge deal of movement, and she looked just in time to see the ground sink, and with it—she thought she saw, at least—a spot of purple reminiscent of a certain person's messy hairstyle before it disappeared.

 _Neptune?_ Blanc changed course and instead made to land where the ground had given way. She flew lower, and the strength of the wind died down so that she could hear her footsteps crunch on the snow at the edge of the abyss. If Neptune had actually been caught up in this, then she had to be buried somewhere under that pile of snow at the bottom.

Taking a deep breath, she yelled Neptune's name as loud as she could, hoping that her voice would prompt a purple head to pop out of the snow. But nothing happened. She yelled again, straining her lungs to the limit—again, nothing. Heart pounding, Blanc descended into the pit and started to look around.

Though the snow should have fallen more or less evenly, in one place it was depressed like the top layer of sand in an hourglass. Using her axe gingerly as a shovel, she excavated enough to reveal an opening in the side of the pit. Sliding through on her rear, she found herself in a large tunnel. The air was cool, insulated by the tons of snow covering the entrance. What little light could reach down here from the surface only went so far, and the rest of the passage crawled onward in darkness.

Blanc licked her lips and shouted for the third time. Her voice reverberated on the walls of the cave, but still it seemed to reach nobody. A pit of anxiety formed in her stomach, but clenching her gut, she ignored it and walked farther into the cave.

The howling winds of the surface dropped from a harsh din to a whisper until they were gone completely. In no time at all, her sense of sight became useless, but she kept walking in hopes that Neptune was safe—or that "Neptune" was a figment of her imagination, and the girl had never been wandering around by herself in Lowee's hinterland in the first place.

A few minutes later—had it been one, or five, or ten?—the end of the cave finally seemed within reach. There was a hint of warmth on the air, and her surroundings, though dim, were finally visible again. Yet despite all this, as she approached the end of the tunnel her nerves grew even more restless. She could not forget the fact that she was still on a quest to find and defeat a demon in its den, which was reportedly somewhere very close to here. There was no telling what she would find up ahead.

The terrain underfoot had been mostly smooth up until now, so when Blanc accidentally kicked something, she hurriedly retracted her foot and jumped back as it skittered away from her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she watched the misshapen thing until it stopped moving. Her eyes picked out an arm, a leg, and then a blocky head. It was just a toy robot that had been dropped and forgotten by whoever came through here last. There were a few more similar cases up ahead; Blanc looked carefully and saw toys, shinies, and a few other lost things scattered about. _Things disappearing,_ she remembered as she knelt and picked up the toy robot. Hopefully it would somehow find its way back to its owner. Until then, she sat it up against the wall and left it there.

What awaited her at the end of the tunnel defied all her expectations of a demon's lair. The rocky path dropped away into an expansive cavern, covered from top to bottom in solid ice: the ground, the walls, and even the ceiling. Lanterns flickering white and blue along the wall spewed colorless light into the whole room. The temperature, which should have been subzero, was comfortable and felt just a few degrees below average.

The most unusual thing of all caught her eye as soon as she emerged from the tunnel and dropped down onto the icy floor: a huge present, shiny and green and tied up neatly with a long red ribbon. Then she spotted another, this one blue with a yellow ribbon. Presents on presents on presents, some bigger than her and others small enough to fit in her hand like a palmtop tiger, all lined up against the wall like baubles on a collector's shelf. Blanc walked up to one that was about her waist height and laid a hand on it. _It's not painted… It feels like actual paper._

"Are these all real?" Examining the boxes carefully, Blanc walked around in disbelief. Every present she passed had a gift tag attached to it, each one with a different name: for Fred, for Erica, for Irving, the names went on and on.

Just as she had decided that all these presents were definitely real, she heard a low, mechanical noise from the opposite side of the room. As she slowly made her way toward it, she realized that the sound was actually somebody's voice.

At the far end of the room, singing off key, was a humongous robot with tank treads for legs and an orange-and-aqua paint job. It busied itself in front of a long pinewood table spread with boxes and bows and rolls of gift wrap. Whatever it was doing seemed like delicate work—work unfitting for a robot that was clearly built out to be a tank. Blanc squinted at the robot's back for a few seconds before her eyebrows went up in surprise. She had met this robot before, and even though it had been a long time, she recognized him—he had the type of personality that made him impossible to forget. _He could probably suplex a boulder,_ she wondered and shook her head, _But he can't hold a tune at all._

She approached the robot, making no attempt to muffle her footsteps, and it swiveled its head around as she neared.

"Oh! Why hello again, CPU of this Lowee!" Voice booming and over-enthused, the bot greeted her with all the familiarity of an old friend. "Actually, it has been quite some time since our last brief meeting. Please, allow me to introduce myself once again: I am the one and only Copypaste! The you of Ultradimension knows me exceedingly well, and though you do not, I would have it that you and she share the same level of permissions. That is to say, Lady Blanc, you have my allegiance as well! I am her servant, and since you _are_ her, I am your servant as well! Ahaha, the transitive property! Isn't it great?!"

"Uh... yeah. Whatever," Blanc acquiesced. She remembered meeting Copypaste in the other Blanc's Basilicom—it had indeed been a long time, and she hardly recalled what had happened—but she could not invent any reason as to why he would be here as opposed to his own dimension.

"Why am I here? Well… Okay, okay, I will admit it. I sneaked into the Hyperdimension disguised as a bringer of holiday joy! I just thought your dimension needed more presents," explained Copypaste when she posed the question. "My friends and colleagues have the residents of the other dimension taken care of, so I established my present workshop here below your land of snow and Christmas. Is it not rather fitting?"

Seeing that Blanc had not yet fully warmed up to his goodwill, he looked around the cavern and pointed out numerous gifts he had made for various people.

There was one for the hardworking witch in the delivery service—  
("The poor girl delivers more presents than she gets!")

—Another for the pink girl in the literature club—  
("She bakes wonderful cupcakes, you know!")

—A big gray box with orange stripes for a big gray box with orange stripes—  
("I'm actually not sure what he is, but he reminds me of a bar of soap!")

—And even for her sisters, Rom and Ram.  
("The pink box is for the pink one, and the blue box is for the blue one!")

As Copypaste continued to name more and more people whom he had gifts for—the list kept going and seemed to indiscriminately include everybody in Gamindustri—Blanc realized just what she had stumbled upon: a one-robot operation of pure altruism. Of giving back to the world "just cause". Copypaste was working anonymous for the sake of making others happy. How could anyone mistake this for demoniac mischief?

"Oh, and I have one for you too!" Copypaste suddenly announced, clapping his hands together. "Look, it is that one," he said, pointing across the room to a huge flat box wrapped in royal purple, "That there, yes! I was planning to deliver it personally to your Basilicom, but the workings of fate brought you here instead!"

In spite of her desire not to get too caught up in his cheer, it was hard for Blanc not to feel some excitement as she sized up the present that was apparently for her. It seemed to shine amidst the rest of the gifts, like the last box placed under the tree that was still in pristine condition by Christmas morning.

"Go ahead and open it now! This one is, hm... very special. Go on, go on! I guarantee that you will love what is inside."

The pseudo-Santa gave her a great warm smile, and Blanc looked toward the purple box sitting alluringly only a few meters away. It was even larger than she had thought at first; if she were to lie down, she could have fit inside with plenty of legroom to spare. The question of what could possibly be inside only burned more insistently.

Almost trembling, she hooked her fingers under the top of the box, lifted it, and shifted it as if she were opening the lid of a coffin. But she immediately regretted making the analogy, because her mind went one step further when she saw what—rather, _who_ was inside. Her throat constricted painfully at the sight of her best friend lying scarily still and proper, and for a second she thought she was going to throw up until Neptune mumbled something and turned onto her side.

"Neptune?"

"Why yes! She fell through that great big opening—unconscious, the poor girl. I figured her a friend of yours, as she is with the other you, so I was going to bring her to you at your Basilicom. Oh yeah, don't worry! She isn't dead. Her frail frame is actually sturdier than mine, though she lacks resistance to the elements..."

Ignoring Copypaste's rambling, Blanc sat Neptune upright and gave her a terse shake. Neptune scrunched her face cutely and tried to hide in her shoulder, shaking her head faintly as if she were sleepily refusing the order to wake up.

"C'mon, idiot, get up... What the hell are you even doing out here?" Blanc grumbled half to herself as Neptune came to slowly, mumbling an excuse.

"Nn... nothing..."

Neptune cut short a yawn and tried to say more, but she was interrupted by the ominous sound of something breaking from the other side of the cavern.

To the right of Copypaste's work area, a crack had formed in the middle of the wall. A second later— _krkk!_ —it doubled in size like lightning. Then came a muffled roar, and the wall exploded into pieces of ice and rock. As the dust settled, lantern light fell obliquely on the figure responsible. A bleached animal's skull fitted over a grisly ashen-gray head, thick segmented horns of yellowed bone that curled and attenuated into sharp points—Blanc instantly remembered the quest she had undertaken from the guild.

Half-satyr, half-demon, ten feet tall, and with a disposition like witches' brew, Krampus reared its ugly head.

"Hahaha! What an entrance!" Copypaste rumbled jovially, apparently unaware of the problem as the monster stumbled through the hole it had made. "Well, well, that's certainly one way to stumble upon my treasure trove of holiday goodness! Welc—"

Before anyone could react, Krampus lurched and crashed into the table and swept all the unfinished presents off with a brute swing of its arm.

"Hey! That's no way to wrap presents!" Flexing an arm, Copypaste rolled toward the beast and wound up. With surprising swiftness, he delivered a stunning blow to its bony head and sent it reeling back into the wall of the cavern. "Lady Blanc!" he thundered, turning around to make eye contact with her for a second, then he faced forward, rolled his shoulders, and put his fists together with a sharp metallic _clang!_ "Let us join forces and dispose of this holiday hooligan before he destroys all the gifts I have wrapped!"

Blanc bit back a sigh. This robot was way too much of an optimist for her liking, but in the end she had no right to complain; an ally was an ally. "And a target's a target," she spat, looking at the goat demon and cracking her knuckles. If she was going to take care of this quest in HDD, she was going to go all out.

Krampus clutched its head and stood up, shaken but not deterred. A feral rumble built up in its throat. A dark jagged line ran from crown to cheekbone like a massive scar; its skeletal mask had cracked under Copypaste's attack, but it was still intact. For mask and monster to have sustained such a heavy blow, it looked for the most part uninjured—only furious.

It opened its mouth, baring two rows of fang-like teeth, and let loose a primal, nightmarishly evil bellow. Blanc winced and covered her ears, feeling her skin crawl. The sound was disturbing and reminiscent of nightmares she had never dreamt.

Picking up an oversized green present lined up against the wall, Krampus lifted it overhead and hurled it through the air at Copypaste.

"Graaaah! Stop that, you troublemaker!" With extreme finesse unbecoming for someone his size, Copypaste caught the projectilized present and gingerly set it down. He had a lot of heart, Blanc had to admit as he pretended to wipe his brow. "Spare these boxes, fiend, I am your enemy! Come, let us see who is stronger!"

But Krampus saw the robot's efforts to preserve the integrity of the gift boxes and stooped to pick up two more, practically snickering with malicious glee.

"Noooo!" Copypaste howled with grief as the satyr lobbed a present through the darkened hole in the wall then the other one over his head. His upper body swiveled one hundred and eighty degrees as he drove backwards to catch it. _Too much heart,_ Blanc sighed and shook her head, adjusting the size of his chest capacity in her mental image.

She intercepted her target just as it prepared to smash a nearby present underfoot. The element of surprise about her, she landed a savage kick to its knee and knocked the beast onto its back. A deranged scream pierced her eardrums as it fell over, but she grit her teeth and swung her axe up to smash its head in with one swift, decisive blow.

But her arms felt a shock as her crushing force was stopped in the middle of its downward arc. _It caught it?!_ She barely had any time to think before Krampus bunched its legs like a jackrabbit and rammed its hooves into Blanc's stomach, launching her flying backward.

Blanc landed painfully on her back, the back of her head slamming into the icy ground and filling her vision with stars. The wings of her processor unit were like steel cushions that bit into her back and forced the air out of her lungs, ironically keeping her grounded. Winded, she dug her shoulders into the ground and lay with her mouth open to fight for breath or scream—maybe a little bit of both. Shadows turmoiled at the edge of her vision, threatening to close in. She could hear shuffling and snorting, her adversary closing in, the sounds were magnified by her headache to a volume that made it impossible to tell how close they were.

 _"Yeaaaagh!"_

A rousing shout helped bring her to her senses. Seconds later, it was followed by an angry howl and the sound of hooves scrambling away. Blanc lifted her head to see Neptune standing protectively in front of her, feet wide apart in that self-taught combat stance of hers, brandishing a sword tinged with red. The big satyr was lurching away with a hand over its side, unable to cover up a growing smear of blood.

"Nep—"  
"Blanc!"

Galvanized by the sense of urgency in Neptune's voice, Blanc struggled to stand up. No matter how strong she rated herself, that kick to the stomach had nearly put her out of commission. If not for the stat bonus from her HDD, it probably would have caused some serious internal damage—it might have even been fatal.

Neptune checked over her shoulder. When she saw that Blanc was on her feet, she nodded determinedly. "Alright! It's you and me, Blanc!" With that, she charged in, striking wildly and persistently.

 _She's not just being reckless,_ Blanc realized as she saw the girl roll out of the way of an attack. Neptune was giving their enemy no chance to recover while also buying time for her teammate to do just that. Blanc fought double time to get her breathing under control. She could only watch as Neptune danced around the monstrous satyr, swinging her sword whenever she was able to—which was not often, as she was constantly under pressure by the beast's onslaught. _I have to help her already!_

Seeing Neptune nearly get clocked by a heavy swing of its arm, Blanc sucked in her gut and gripped her axe in both hands.

"Watch out!" she shouted as loud as she could and sprinted toward the fight. Both Neptune and Krampus looked at her, but only the former jumped out of the way as Blanc raised her weapon overhead and brought it thundering down. But she predicted correctly that her foe would block her attack, and she brought her axe back up to swing again, then again, raining blows and increasing her power with every swing.

Forced to its knees by the relentless assault, Krampus snarled but held its ground. Although it was remarkably resilient, every hit made its hooves skid back on the ice. _I can't damage it..._ Blanc grit her teeth, knowing that if this kept up, her arms would lose strength before her opponent's defenses weakened. _Come on… Neptune!_

Her prayer rang true; a trail of cold steel whirled through the air behind the beast, inflicting a flurry of cuts on its back. Assailed on both sides, Krampus bleated in a rage and spun around to retaliate against Neptune—a grave mistake.

Blanc saw her chance and took a quick step back, chambering her hammer over her shoulder. With a grunt of exertion, she knocked its legs out from underneath it.

And this time, it was too slow to stop her axe from coming down on its head.

The skull mask covering its face shattered from the impact, and its ugly mug lolled to the side before the entire thing exploded into shimmering pieces. Breathless, Blanc struck the ground weakly with her axe, cutting slightly into the frozen ground, and crouched down as she waited for the adrenaline to stop coursing through her veins. Her arms were absolutely wrecked after that last stunt; wielding her great axe with both speed and power took a lot out of her, which was why she preferred to bank all her energy into one swing. But it had got the job done; Krampus was no more.

"B-Blanc? C-c-can you… h... help me out?"

She jumped to her feet, her fatigue forgotten when she heard her friend's wavering voice and the sound of something metal dropping to the ground. Neptune had collapsed onto her knees, arms wrapped around herself with a faint smile.

"I'm—hh... freezing…"

 _ **HDN Christmas Chaos**_

"Holy pancakes, you live like a queen up here!"

When Blanc returned to the master bedroom of Lowee's Basilicom with two big mugs of hot cocoa, Neptune was sitting on the bed swaddled in a white throw that Copypaste had given them as part of his thanks for saving his Christmas operation. Thanks to him, Blanc had been able to get Neptune inside before her hypothermia could get any worse. "I've gotta be in heaven right now. Blanc, can I take some of these pillows home?"

"Get your own. You can't have mine."

"But you have so many!" Neptune looked enviously at the pile of fluffy pillows and blankets on Blanc's bed. "You wouldn't miss _one_ of them."

"Comes with the territory. You can't live in Lowee and not own at least a few warm blankets like these." Blanc handed Neptune her drink and sat down beside her. "Plus, Copypaste already gave you that one. It's yours to keep, so don't get greedy."

Neptune nodded and wrapped the blankets tighter around herself. "I was still surprised to see him here. He usually spends Christmas at the other Lowee."

For a few minutes, they sat and enjoyed their hot chocolate in easy silence.

"Ah…" Neptune sighed and looked into her cup, still too hot to drink except in careful sips. "Doesn't it get lonely up here?" she asked with a look around the high-ceilinged room.

"Every now and then..."

Truthfully, Blanc sometimes did feel very small sitting alone in her room. So much open space made it feel like something was missing. All she had up here was her computer, her bed, and some bookshelves; most of the gaming stuff was downstairs, as she usually never let people into her room in the name of privacy.

"Aaaanyway, we got this from the guild." Blanc held up the present box for the quest reward. It was a tiny green box bound in a red ribbon with gold trim. "Should we open it?"

"Is that even a question?" Neptune's eyes lit up, and she scooted closer. "Heck yeah we should!"

Blanc put the box down on her lap. Suddenly, they were way too close for comfort. Blanc could feel Neptune's warm breath on her neck, which for some reason sent a chill down her back. "You're too close," she mumbled weakly, but Neptune either did not hear or did not care.

Thankful for something to do to hide her embarrassment, Blanc hastily tugged at the ribbon and opened the present. Inside the box was a tin of white shortbread cookies, filled with a dark red jam and dusted with powdered sugar.

"Hey—" Neptune's voice rose in surprise. Her hand darted into the box and snagged a cookie. "Oh... They're not very good," she shook her head as she chewed. "They're... too sweet."

"At least let me try one first," Blanc sighed as she picked out one of the smaller ones. Breaking it in half, she popped the cookie into her mouth. Light and buttery, the shortbread almost melted on her tongue, and the jam was sweet and refreshing, probably made from the snowberries that grew on the mountain slopes in winter. She remembered seeing some on her way to Phendroid Drifts, right around where Neptune had fallen into that pit.

"Just don't eat too many of them," Neptune said dejectedly when Blanc told her what she thought. She seemed a little down for the next few minutes, even going so far as to drink half of her hot chocolate in one go despite wincing as it scalded her tongue.

Blanc was left feeling like she was missing an important detail here. Sure, receiving consumables for a quest reward might be a little disappointing, but the cookies were at least good. Did Neptune really dislike them that much?

"Did you want me to feed you or something?" Hoping that some playful teasing would get a better reaction out of Neptune, Blanc smirked and held the other half of the cookie up to Neptune's face. But Neptune just leaned back and shook her head.

Stumped, Blanc sighed and put the cookie tin down on the bed. Even after all these years, Neptune was still an enigma to her. When she got like this, it was almost impossible to tell what was on her mind unless she said it herself. But if it was something that Blanc needed to know, then Neptune would tell her; that was just the type of person she was, straightforward and honest. She rarely hid anything—she was as terrible of a secret keeper as she was a liar, but that alone did not mean she had no secrets of her own.

Blanc had been hoping that they had gotten close enough over the past year for Neptune to be a little more open about the things that were bothering her. Since last Christmas, their relationship had gotten a little more cozier; Blanc no longer minded Neptune coming to visit, even if it was just to get away from work for a while. It still slightly bothered her how a CPU could possibly shirk so many responsibilities and still manage to stay ahead. Sometimes the amount of work Blanc had to take care of on a daily basis made her wonder what kind of horrible disaster would befall Lowee if she were to leave for a while and then come back.

Neptune had not only been visiting more frequently but more regularly. Rather than popping in every a month or so to seek shelter from the storm—a storm in the form of an exasperated book-borne fairy—she came every week just to hang out. She had a wide range of excuses, from escaping Histoire to escaping the summer heat, but after a while she had given up on pretending there was a real reason behind her visits.

Blanc would never admit that she had started looking forward to her weekends a little bit more because of that.

"Are you doing anything for Christmas?" she asked, sitting back on her palms. Maybe some idle talk would help ease whatever was on Neptune's mind.

"Hum… I wasn't planning to invite anyone this year." Neptune scratched the back of her head. "I mentioned it to Nep Junior, and she said every year was too much. So I figured I would just come here and spend some time with you."

"So, is that why you decided to get stuck in one of my snow drifts?"

"Ahaha... Maybe. Actually, I'd heard there were these berries in Lowee that only grow near the mountains when it's wintertime. 'Parently they're good for making jam, so I uh... wanted to pick some and see for myself. I thought I could, I dunno, make cookies or something."

"You bake?" Blanc looked at her in surprise. She could hardly envision Neptune wearing an apron. "I didn't know that."

"Well, not really... But it's Christmas, y'know?" Neptune held up her hands, trying to explain that unexplainable feeling and hoping Blanc knew what she meant. "I just thought I should do something."

Blanc nodded slowly, kind of understanding the sentiment. "I think I know what kind of berries you're talking about. They used to be Mina's favorite, so I used to buy some for her and craft them into jam whenever they're in season. I still do, even though she isn't here anymore. I guess it's just a little nostalgic."

She looked back at Neptune, who was staring at a spot on the floor. "Alright!" she declared and stood up suddenly. "Let's go."

"What? Go where?" Neptune shrugged off the blanket and stood up as well, looking at her in confusion. Blanc took the empty mug of cocoa from her.

"To bake. You wanted to make cookies, right? So that's what we're gonna do."

 _ **HDN Christmas Chaos**_

Before long, Neptune was in much higher spirits. After wiping the dough off her hands, she stood in front of the oven and gave Blanc a high five.

"Woo! Let's bake the cookie!"

"Calm down. It's gonna be at least twenty minutes."

It had taken them about an hour, most of it spent waiting for the dough to chill, but they had done pretty well. Blanc agreed with Neptune that baking together was fun. Neither of them was particularly skilled at it, but they had managed to follow the recipe and get two sheets of jam-filled cookies into the oven. Now they had some time to relax.

The Basilicom was all decked out for the holidays. Back near the beginning of winter, Blanc and the twins had taken the time, and a few boxes full of decor, to spruce up their living space. Lights had been put up along the walls, bells had been hung on doorknobs, and a moderately tall fir had been set up in the main room and strewn with ornaments. The twins, in all their mischief, somehow even managed to get their hands on some mistletoe, which they taped haphazardly to the ceiling in places they thought were clever. Blanc never had to worry about it, because nobody was around anyway, but she had started to subconsciously take different routes to get around even when she was alone.

"Rom, Rom! Look, Neptune's here!"  
"Yay, Neptune's here..."

Hearing excited whispers behind her, Neptune turned around and peered at the corner of the hallway.

"Who dareth whisper-shout my name?" She turned to Blanc and cleared her throat, giving her a sly smile. "But nevermind that. Have you seen two girls resembling a pair of ice climbers around here? I have to tell them some very important Santa-related news."

At this, there was a clatter from the hall as the twins left their hiding spot and ran into the room to hug Neptune.

"What is it? What do you have to tell us?"  
"Yeah, tell us!"

"Aha! Hey there, Romulus and Ramulus! Okay, I visited the North Pole earlier today..."

Neptune told the twins about how she had met "Santa" and he had shown her this year's batch of Christmas presents. Her story was riddled with exaggerations and fabrications, but Blanc made no comment and allowed them to have their fun.

At one point, Neptune met Blanc's eye and winked. "Blanny here is my knight in shining armor. She fought the super strong field-on enemy for me and won."

Aware that three pairs of eyes were suddenly on her, Blanc turned away and coughed into her elbow before going over to the stove to check on the cookies. _If only it had been as simple as you make it sound,_ she scoffed to herself. But she liked Neptune talking about her like that, so she decided to let it slide.

The twins eventually left, bouncing off the walls with excitement after hearing about what kind of cool things they had to look forward to on Christmas. Blanc was about to compliment Neptune on how well she was able to handle the twins—almost better than she herself could, surprisingly enough— but at that moment the oven dinged, and they both looked at each other eagerly.

Blanc crouched down in front of the stove to see if the cookies looked like they were done. To be honest, she did not have enough experience to really tell, but trusting in the recipe she opened the door, took them out with a huge oven mitt, and set the baking sheet on a cooling rack on the island countertop. A sweet smell wafted into the air.

"Oh. Those ones didn't make it." After examining the batch for a little while, Neptune pointed at two whose fillings had spilled out through cracked wells. Both were on the half of the sheet that she had done; she and Blanc had rolled a dozen each, and it was clear by the shape of the cookies on each side that there was a slight difference in proficiency.

"We can just refill it." Blanc heard the note of sadness in Neptune's voice and tried to cheer her up. "And don't worry about the cracked ones either. They're homemade, so it happens."

"But the ones _you_ made are pretty much perfect, and the ones in the box were too!" Neptune sank into chair and folded her arms, fixing the thumbprint cookies with a disdainful look. "I mean, I guess some of mine are okay... like this one..."

Blanc tore her eyes away and pressed her fingers together anxiously. She wanted Neptune to feel better about the results and stop worrying about the small stuff; this was supposed to cheer her up, not make her feel even worse. If not for the fact that the cookies were just out of the oven and too hot to handle, she would have eaten one on the spot and told Neptune it was delicious.

But before she could come up with anything to say, Neptune laughed as if she had just remembered something funny. "To tell the truth, I wanted this to be a surprise," she said, keeping her eyes down. "Because, well... Last year, you gave me that snow globe, and I've never gotten anything that nice, so I was really happy. But at the same time, whenever I look at it, it kinda makes me feel lame, since I can't give you anything as special as that. I'm no good at making anything with my hands, and all I know how to do is ask people what they want and buy it for them.

"I thought I would bake these for you—because you can't mess up cookies that badly, right?—but I couldn't even get the ingredients I needed without falling into a hole and knocking myself unconscious. And then you get an entire boxful of the exact ones I was planning on making, and they're already perfect, and like… ugh!" Neptune sighed, put her forehead on the counter, and mumbled, "I never stood a chance."

Neptune's tone and words wrung the sympathy from Blanc's heart. She knew exactly the feeling—the admiration, the obligation, the uselessness, all of it, and she already knew what she wanted to say. There was no need to think about it.

"Screw the box of cookies we got." Neptune perked up, surprised by the sudden outburst. "I don't know who the heck made 'em. They could be manufactured for all we know. But listen: _We_ made these. You and me, together. And just because of that, I like them way more than some random reward we got for doing a quest."

She gestured to the tray of cookies between them. "Seriously, I couldn't give a damn if our cookies turned out better or worse. Who cares about how 'good' you are at making anything? It's something we did together, and you know what? As long as you try, that's good enough to make me the happiest girl in the world. I don't need any more than that."

The last five or so words had sprung into her head completely unscripted. They seemed to hang in the air for a while before she realized that Neptune was crying.

"Um, sorry. I said too much... I'll get some tis—"

"Wait!" Neptune quickly wiped her face with her sleeve. Then she grabbed a cookie from the tray and bit it cleanly in half. "... These are really good! They're sweet and soft and, uh, filled with love or something like that. Here, you try it too!"

Looking as if her life depended on it, Neptune rose to her feet and held the other half of the cookie out over the table.

"Oh. Alright..." Bewildered by Neptune's aggression, Blanc leaned across the counter and accepted the cookie between her lips. Neptune gasped and retracted her fingers. "What? You left me with no choice," she mumbled around the cookie as her own cheeks heated up in realization of what she had done.

"I—well, I, I just thought you'd take it with your hands..." Neptune laughed nervously. "Well, so... How does it taste?"

"Mm... It's good." Blanc brushed off the crumbs around her mouth with the tip of her pointer finger. "Yeah. It's got the perfect amount of sweetness, softness, and... love, I guess."

Neptune beamed at her, definitely glad that they were in agreement.

"Hey Blanc, I... There's something I... Ugh, bleh. Can you just come here for a sec? I've gotta tell you something important."

"Uh, yeah." Blanc started to walk around the counter. "What is it?"

In lieu of a reply, Neptune met her halfway and took her by the wrist. She began to lead her toward the living room, where the Christmas tree twinkled. Somewhere along the way, her fingers slipped from holding Blanc's wrist to holding her hand—it had happened so naturally that Blanc had almost missed it.

When Neptune stopped, she turned around and smiled guiltily.

Blanc looked up. Taped to the ceiling, hanging at an angle, was the stem of mistletoe that she had taken so much care to avoid. And yet here she was, standing directly under it.

"Neptune, you—" Her throat constricted, and the words came out quieter than she had intended them. "... What am I supposed to think about this?"

Neptune giggled nervously as if she still could not believe she was doing this. "I guess it's more like a Christmas present for me, so maybe think of it like that? Anyway, it's just… I've been thinking recently. And that's never a good thing, haha. But anyway, I want to thank you for, well, for being yourself. I can always count on you to have my back. And I just really like spending time with you."

The whole time Neptune was speaking, Blanc stood frozen, holding her breath and Neptune's hands, which entwined their fingers with hers and squeezed. _What is this?_ She felt dizzy. Her heart was pounding. She could barely focus on the words, so when Neptune's lips parted to say one last thing, she at first thought she had misheard.

But then Neptune leaned forward and kissed her, and Blanc knew exactly what she had heard.

 _"I love you."_

* * *

 _ **Have a merry Christmas...**_

"Look, Rom, look! They kissed! I knew we'd get somebody!"  
"Yay... We got somebody!"

Watching covertly from the hallway, the twins celebrated their success with an air high five before retreating back to their room to plan their next campaign.

 _ **... and a happy New Year!**_


End file.
